So we landed in Christchurch and this time it was us with the welcome banner. In Wellington we had picked up a massive Union Jack flag and wrote "Don't forget your roots" on it for a thank you/ bribery present from Bridie. We had to wait around the airport for a while, until Bridie finished work and collected the Ice Queen (our hire car) so we got the handy cards out. We didn't have to wait long until we got the call of "where are you?" I could see Bridie in the distance and started waving frantically. I shouted back to Becki to come over and we all ran into the middle from different directions and gave each other a massive hug. Bridie loved her present and promised it would be out and vigilant in our photos. If you have seen ours and Bridies photo's then she diffidently kept her promise.

We said our hellos and had a quick catch up but I think we were all feeling a little strange that we were the other side of the world all together, it was very surreal. We jumped into the car and headed towards our new home for the next week, (which we later worked out was our longest stay in any city, town or beach since we left England). Bridie had been staying with Mikes family, who was a guy she met three years ago during camp America. Mike's family were really kind and allowed Becki and I to sleep on Bridies floor for the week which ment all three of us could hang out loads together. We dropped our bags of at our new Kiwi home, met the new Kiwi family and hopped back into the car. We got formally introduced to Mike who was studying to be a PE teacher and was in his final year. We brought some fish and chips and headed up to Portman Hill for views of the harbour on one side and the city of Christchurch on the other. Although it was dark we got a really nice idea for the area and what we would be in for. After quizzing Mike about everything to do with NZ we headed home, where the three of us stayed up laughing and exchanging traveling stories. I went to sleep that night incredibly happy, you don't realise how much you miss people until they are back in your life or its too late.

I woke up and had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't still dreaming, Bridie was really there and we weren't at home in a sleep over, we actually were in NZ! Bridie had pulled some strings and managed to get Wednesday off from work to spend the day with us and her mums best friend Nick who also happened to be in Christchurch too. Due to the perks of Bridies job she had arranged a wonderful extremely touristy day out. We started of by jumping on the tram, where we first got off at an art museum and a fudge shop. We ate as much free fudge as possible walked around some old looking buildings and into some gift shops. Our next stop happened to be a pub, where we all ordered a cold sweet cider with a few ice cubes in and drank it by the river watching the world go by. After our lunch time snack we finished our tram ride and headed back to the Ice Queen, where we drove up to the gondler. Unfortunately we couldn't go on the river boats as they were full and the next one wasn't for a few hours time.

The gondler was like a cable car on a loop up the side of the mountain. We all jumped in and looked all around the 360 degrees views taking it all in. I would have to say that NZ has the nicest landscape I have ever seen. From the air we could see mountains covered in dark green and brown bush with lots of sheep shivering their butts off as they had just been shaved, with a few trecking tracks and the occasional crazy hiker who decided to walk them. When we arrived at the top instead of just getting back on we went for a little explore. I remember Bridie asking Nick to shout three words about how he was feeling at this time, he shouted back "happy, content and excited" my question to you is how would you describe yours feelings right now in three words? We caught the gondler back down and headed back to the house, this is where we had our first home cooked meal in almost 5 months, chicken casserole. Becki family can confirm that she hates any other potato other than mash but even she managed a few sneaky little ones!

That night we had a few drinks met Phil, Mikes' friend, played some drinking games and headed into town. The night was awesome everyone was in the same zone dancing to the same beats getting to know each other and just having a good time. We woke the next morning with a head to remind us about the night before! Bridie had work today so me and Becki were left to fend for ourselves, saying that Bridie left us lots of maps, important numbers and an itinerary, day one solo and we were heading to Hanmersmith Springs! After a slight detour and back tracking ( with a few cross words shouted at each other) around the city we were on our way, just us and the open road. Mountains, lakes, straight long roads and no traffic it was like a Top Gear dream! We arrived a few hours later where we were all ready to jump into the hot springs. There were 12 different pools each with different temperatures which we tried out. The pools ranged from 28-41 degrees and we were most happiest in about 37. As we both fell asleep in the pools we decided it was home time with a little detour to a coffee house and pizza place! We headed home to noodles and a film, perfect!

Poor old Bridie had a another early start so after dropping her off Becki and I took advantage of free internet and called home and sent e-mails. We soon realised we were still in our PJ's and it was lunch time so Mike offered to take us out to a place to remind us even more of home, Brighton Beach! A number of the towns and street signs had English names which got Becki and I excited, there was even a town called Shirley. Brighton Beach had a pier which was a liitle boring as there wasn't much on it but the beaches were much longer and wider than home with the sea had huge rolling waves which were perfect for surfers. We stayed for a while then headed the scenic route back but oops Mikes car broke down. Kiwi dad came and kicked the tyre popped the bonnet and gave us the ok! We were back on the road again, we went back picked Bridie up from work and packed our car up for our traditional Kiwi Easter holiday break.

With the car full we were off on our 6 person adventure, Nick, Mike, Phil, Bridie, Becki and me. The journey to the hut was long but the views were amazing, it took us about two and bit hours to arrive at our lodgings. In true English style Bridie, Becki and me sneaked a bottle of Vodka into our car which Kiwi dad had given us a few days before and made a good start on it before the boys noticed. We soon arrived after a nail biting off road tracks to the hut and we were in the real New Zealand outdoors. The hut was really in the middle of nowhere, no phone signal, surrounded by tall fern trees and small knee high bushes. Mike packed his BB gun, so we took it in turns shooting home made targets and then each other. (some took it too far, mentioning no names Miss Courtney who got out her bare bum out to be shot.) After a few drinks we danced lots sang extremely loud and then all fell asleep together in one room, it was a giant sleep over.

Before we knew we were sleep, "buzz" and the alarm was going off telling us to stop being lazy and get up. We missed the sunrise but after a few moans from everyone apart from Mike we all got up dressed packed and were ready to roll. To get us in the complete Kiwi frame of mind we started with a two hour hike. Phil was unsure if he would make it so he set of first so we could do it at his own pace, unfortunately for Mike Phil hadn't done this hike before so Mike had to run the last 5 K up hill to catch up with Phil to get him to stop! The hike started off hard as it was all up hill (well we were walking up a mountains to get the best views!) but then we all relaxed, started to take in the scenery and get deep into conversation. We stopped about three times at different points to take different level pictures so we could see how high we had climbed and look down at the massive drop off below us. We eventually reached the top where we were all had stripped our layers off to be hit with a wicked panoramic view and really strong winds. We took our pictures, even got a few snaps of the Union Jack flag and then headed down as we were all getting cold. Mike and Phil decided to challenge themselves and ran down the mountains but the rest of us just chilled out with our music and walked down.

By the time we had reached the bottom we were all starving so two huge bags of crisps were wolfed down in seconds. This still wasn't enough for some of us so we took a short drive to the centre of the national park, Aurther Pass where they sold cooked food. The boys ate some food while the girls and Nick stayed true travelers and ate the sandwiched we had brought with us, onced refueled we were back on the road.

After a short drive back to the cabin we collected all our belongings and we headed towards our caving trip. We soon arrived at a car park on top of a hill and Mike dressed us all in stupid looking thermals. Our faces showed the worry that each of us felt but the excitement was even better. Phil already had a cold so he guarded the cars while we walked the ten minute trip to the bottom of the cave. We found the stream that ran into the cave and we all got involved and drank the water from it with our are bare hands, we were hard core now! We found the entrance of the cave and took some cheesy photos when we saw a young family enter the caving just before us. Now we all had head touches, thermals and shoes, the family with two young daughters had lip flops, shorts and jeans on. Mike soon had his sensible head on and we waited for them to enter the cave so we could keep an eye on them. After about ten minuets we went in behind them and soon caught up with them. We asked if they were ok but I think male pride got in the way of dad and he said yes they were. Still not convinced Mike took us on a little detour of the cave and we climbed up over and through a number of holes in the cave to waste time. The stream running through the middle of the cave ranged from ankle high to waste high within minutes and the water was bitterly cold.

The cave was my favorite part of the trip as I felt like a real adventure and not just another number in a tour group. Existing the cave was the hardest part as you had to climb a waterfall and shimmy under a overhang looking down into a massive drop off. We were all ok but this time the dad had to ask for help from us. We all got involved and everyone safely made it out of the cave. We all got changed and I asked Phil if he could please fill my bottle up from the stream. Being the nice guy he was he said yes and ran down the hill. He soon returned with an empty bottle saying he couldn't find a tap! Well I guess not all Kiwis are out door kinda of guys!

We got back into the cars for our last stop which was a short walk from a car park where lots of rocks stood all carved from a fast flowing stream that onced flowed. We walked around them and climbed over a few. It would have been possible to do some rock climbing but we all completely dead and we still had to drive home. The drive home seemed a lot quicker than the one there, we stopped off at the supermarket got some noodles and put on a film. I think we were all dead to the world within seconds!

We all woke up late but felt fully refreshed and ready for our next day. Kiwi mum and dad said they would cook us roast lamb to help with our home sickness that evening and Becki and my face lit up! That day we took a drive to Akaroa beach which was a small cute little French town in the mountains leading down to the beach. We walked along the beach, tried to skim stones and just chatted. We walk to a little lighthouse and look out over the harbor, then walked back. I started talking to a fisher man who been extremely unsuccessful in his catch and only kept getting small shark looking fish. We got some fish and chip ate them on the beach and then headed home. That night we were still very tired so we spent the evening in, getting better equated with Kiwi man and dad and watched some trashy TV. Our roast was lovely and it did remind us of home but we were all still glad to be traveling.

The next day we had to get up early and take poor old Bridie to work again. We dropped her off and went shopping for presents for Kiwi mum and dad. We offered to make them a traditional English meal of bangers and mash. After getting all we needed we passed Mikes work and grabbed a few dvds to watch. We put on City of God, which was all about Rio and the slums, if you can I would suggest watching it. A lot of the scenes in the film we saw on our tour so both Becki and I loved the film. We thanked Kiwi mum and dad for letting us stay and gave them our gifts and a hug as Kiwi mum would be out in the evening. We picked Bridie up from work and Becki and I started cooking dinner while she had a little sleep. We served up dinner which was a massive success and spent the night talking and playing cards. Phil came over for the evening so he could say good bye but before he did he gave Becki and I a lovely present. In NZ they have green stone, so a lot of their jewelery is made from it and it is said to have powers. However you cannot buy the stone yourself as it will revers ts powers you must be given it, so Phil had brought Becki and I a lovely necklace each, we were both so touched.

We both went to sleep sad that night as we know we had to be back on the road again early the next morning. Mike offered to drive us in and Bridie came too, it felt like our parents were sending us off to school again. We said our good byes and gave each other a hug but it was ok as we would see them in a few days in Franz Joseph.